Data on CoinStats’ crypto portfolio management app shows a 45% decline in the XLM price since the start of the year. Stellar tokens were also down more than 93% from their all-time high of $0.8755 in 2018.

On Wednesday, the XLM price saw a 52% rise in a little under two hours, leading to speculation about the arrival of another altseason. The upward surge was followed by a steep retrace, reducing the initial 24-hour trading gains by more than half.

A Bitcoin maximalist Matt Hougan of Bitwise Asset Management believes that 95% of altcoins will die, but doesn’t consider it a bad idea to donate altcoins as long as it can be obtained in US dollars.

Former CEO Bought Bitcoin after Selling His Company Shares

Former CEO of Overstock Patrick Bayer withdrew and sold his 4.8 million shares of the company buying gold, silver and bitcoin to protect himself against “recession” and “deep state” because of which causing Overstock to drop.

Overstock is an online retailer based near Salt Lake City. The company reported $373 million in revenue in the second quarter of last month. By selling its $90 million equity shares, Byrne caused a decline in the company’s share value.

To explain his behavior on that occasion, the former CEO wrote a blog post saying his move to hard assets is a hedge against a “deteriorating world situation”

CME to Launch Options on its Bitcoin Futures in Q1/2020

Derivatives marketplace CME Group has announced that it would launch options on its existing bitcoin futures contracts in the first quarter of 2020.

“Based on increasing client demand and robust growth in our Bitcoin futures markets, we believe the launch of options will provide our clients with additional flexibility to trade and hedge their bitcoin price risk,” said Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products.

“These new products are designed to help institutions and professional traders to manage spot market bitcoin exposure, as well as hedge Bitcoin futures positions in a regulated exchange environment.”